Lunch was pushed back to get some errands done. To avoid any hunger-induced grumpy-ness I had a little snack. Mashed avocado and cherry tomatoes are an amazing toast topping.

For our late lunch I brought back an old and forgotten favorite: lasagna! I made a quick tomato sauce with leftover vegetables, layered it into a large casserole dish together with lasagna noodles and crème fraîche, and topped it with grated cheese. Put it into the oven for 30 minutes and it was done.

I always thought that making lasagna takes a lot of time, but if you don’t bother making bechamel sauce from scratch, it’s actually not that bad.

A few weeks ago my Mom gave me a big tray of potato dumplings. I put them into the freezer and have been trying to use them in some creative ways. I actually prefer bread dumplings (Semmelknödel), but I did enjoy the potato version, too, combined with a creamy mushroom sauce, brussel sprouts, and red cabbage (Blaukraut).

The next batch of potato dumplings will probably be sliced, fried, and drowned in ketchup.

So, how am I doing on my Eating In challenge? Well, I cheated once last week. I had an after work movie date with a friend, and it just wouldn’t have made any sense for me to go home and cook dinner. So we both enjoyed a nice bowl of soup at our favorite café. No picture, it was just too dark.

(What movie did we watch? Only lovers left alive! It was fantastic, go watch it now!)

To avoid any more cheating on the challenge, I spent Sunday afternoon preparing some meals for the week. I made a Mexican stir-fry with quinoa, creamy chestnut soup, and an Asian vegetable stir-fry. I also have some frozen brown rice from a previous batch cooking session. I think I’ll be good this week.

And if I run out of meals and ideas, I still have plenty of toast to make more sandwiches.

Catching up on this post way late but I’d happily come over to eat potato dumplings at your house. Though yes, I prefer Semmelknödel. And Rotkohl – especially prepared by my grandma – is never wrong, either. The latter would go better with potato dumplings again so yes, once more I’m unable to pick a favourite :).